What was the original intentions of Rockers on T-Bird?

[Guest]

I trying to figure this one out? If they all rot away from water internally then why did they build them like they did? I would have thought that this area could have been encapsulated and no water could have found it way in. Sure would like to know? Jon

[Guest]

RE: What was the original intentions of Rockers on T-Bi

There are various reasons why the 58-60 T-bird ended up they way it did. For starters......it was one of the first cars to have unibody construction......there are no bolt on fenders......or seperate frame like other cars in its day. All passages for water and air had to be integrated into the body itself. In its day the car was way ahead of its time with no "examples" to pull from or learn from their mistakes. To read how it was designed is almost comical. The 2 seater bird was dead..........so the 58 was almost a stepchild to Ford.......and most of the cars attributes came from last minute ideas. The interior ended up the way it did because the car was just too low for a bench seat........thus the bucket seat and console concept for a passenger car was "invented". Most problems were dealt with day to day. Im sure when it was designed.......how the water exited the cowl area seemed like a good idea. In 1961 the Thunderbird was given drain tubes.....Ford learned from its mistake. Rust-proofing back then wasnt exactly state of the art either.......how could you rustproof areas that never saw the light of day.........and besides........you didnt design a car to be restored at a later date. Ive only seen maybe 3 squarebirds on the road in my lifetime......and only a handful at car shows........and Im 40 years old. I used to wonder why until I realized what the fate of most were.........RUST.......and demolition derbys (where that unibody stood up quite well). I too cursed and yelled as I cut what seemed like half my car "off" to repair it...........and it took some time. I must say though .......this past summer I stopped at a traffic light here where I live.....and a horn next to me blew......and I had minivan full of kids smiling and waving at my car........it was priceless........It was a pain in the **** to fix........but Im glad I did it.

What happens is this.......
When I removed the lower half of my front fenders (behind the wheel)......I noticed that the water drained into the cowl area.....and ran into a chamber behind the fender. Any overflow exited at the back wheel. At the bottom of the car was a hole where the water was to drain out. Over time this hole became blocked with dirt or leaves or whatever......and the water would sit in this chamber. Over time the back of this chamber (it almost looks like a little flood wall) would rust away.....letting the water run down (inside) the rocker panels.......to the back wheel. Over more time the inside of the rockers collect more dirt,leaves, ect......and stay damp.......eating up the rockers and anything else from the inside. This explains why you see these cars alot with paint bubbles beneath the doors and lower front fenders.

[Guest]

RE: What was the original intentions of Rockers on T-Bi

I was talking to a friend tonight and he came up with an idea to keep this area from rusting out so much. Now this may sound a little crazy but he shoved rages full of oil into his rocker area on his 47 chevy. Not a bad idea to have some lubrication in that area. Now my fix to keep this area from rotting out is to spray W-D40 inside the drain holes. I'm replacing one rocker side bottom with new sheet-metal and the main peice I'm using has whole every foot, so I guess I can just from time to time spray oil up in there to keep the rust down. Oh by the way that Por-15 I used up on the floor boards worked great!!!!! No holes up there now and its solid as a rock. I'm really impress with that Por-15 stuff and plan on trying to use it up front where the water collect from the windshield. My car is a driver and not a show car so if this works for me than that good enough. Jon

[Guest]

RE: What was the original intentions of Rockers on T-Bi

Getting back to the water problem in the rocker I might just plug the forward end up with some Styrofoam to make a dam of sort to keep that excess water from drain back into rocker area. (Easy fix)Jon

PS. Hay guys what do you think????

[Hawkrod]

RE: What was the original intentions of Rockers on T-Bi

FYI, WD40 is not a lubricant or protectant it is a solvent and it evaporates which makes it a poor choice for rust prevention. Hawkrod

[Guest]

RE: What was the original intentions of Rockers on T-Bi

In my rockers I used LPS. Has anyone else used this?

[6TB1RD]

RE: What was the original intentions of Rockers on T-Bi

>In my rockers I used LPS. Has anyone else used this?

What is LPS I have never heard of it.

I do Love to use POR-15 I used it in the Engine compartment and plan on using it in the trunk if I ever get to that point.

[Guest]

RE: What was the original intentions of Rockers on T-Bi

It is basically a corrison inhibitor. It is pretty expensive, but I figured I was only going to do this one time.

http://www.lpslabs.com/products.asp

[6TB1RD]

RE: What was the original intentions of Rockers on T-Bi

I watched a recorded show from last weekend and they used a product called ZR (zero Rust) it was developed by (I thank they said) southern pacific for use on the rail cars to prevent them from rusting. easy to use comes in a spray can.